Eugene McGuinness was contemplating a career in fine art but, thankfully for us, he made a dramatic u-turn and moved to Liverpool to make music instead. His first venture, the sublime album The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness arrives with us August 6th 2007 and indicates just the start of much more to come from this talented young newcomer. Not restricted to one city or ‘scene’, he continues to divide his time between London, Liverpool and Ireland or to wherever he can afford the train.

His music is distinctly pop-orientated with a wry humorous take on those every day things in life; anything from his own procrastinating, to the weather and vampires… Albeit unsettling at times, his songs are always genuine and heartfelt with the occasional literary reference to boot. Eugene’s lyrics evoke a feeling of eternal possibility while at the same time a constant reminder of the possibility of failure.

Possessing razor sharp lyrics and a mesmerising voice, Eugene romanticises everyday experiences and emotions, as in the single "Monsters Under The Bed", released July 2nd (“my will to move or even use my brain, is weathered by eternal English rain”) to the quietly affecting in "Vampire Casino" (“you were a hit, you were off script, and in love”) and funny “I’m not going to watch Neighbours twice today”. Inspired partly by the lyrics of Morrissey and partly by the melodies of Cole Porter, Eugene is definitely not your average artist. With influences as diverse as Dizzee Rascal and The Pogues, he is a distinctive outsider making him a class apart from his peers.

Eugene is a refreshing change from the current wave of young singers fabricated to appeal to a particular youth market and offers a new take on the singer-songwriter stereotype. More universal in his appeal, further reaching than just his own generation and, most importantly, he’s sincere, completely unaffected and has no agenda other than to write catchy, layered, humorous and intelligent pop songs so his “name can be passed around for a while”.